104'4  6? 

f\\\>'^/Kei^ 

Tb  f>U^  Ici  ^^VKtA^  /j^aToZCiO 

)^  15-S-  '  ,  .  '  • 

^^^^f  hkJi 

&<,I^Jk-(^l  0  IV/ 


DIES  IR^ 

AND 

STABAT  MATER. 

WITH 


ORIGINAL  TRANSLATIONS. 


Stabat  MATER  1>PI.0R08A 

Justa  Crucem  Lachiymoaa 

P,  D.' 


HYMN  OF  THE  SORROWS  OF  MARY 

TRANSLATED  BY 


ABRAHAM  COLES,  M.  D.,  Ph.  D. 


Photograph 


NEW  YORK 
U.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 
1866 


Rnterei  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1865,  by 
Abraham  Coles, 

in  the  Clerk’s  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of 
New  Jersey. 


PROEM. 


HE  celebrated  Paffion  Hymn,  the  Stabat 
Mater,  is  so  conftantly  aflbciated  with 
the  Dies  Irae  that  to  mention  the  one  is 
to  suggeft  the  other.  It  has  been  thought, 
therefore,  that  a  Tranflation  of  this  Prosa  likewise, 
made  as  literal  as  poffible,  might  be  acceptable  to 
some  readers,  and  form  a  not  unsuitable  appendage 
to  the  present  volume,  by  supplying  a  ready  means 
of  comparison  between  two  produdlions,  about  which, 
down  to  this  day  even,  there  has  been  a  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  which  should  be  awarded  the  palm 
of  superiority. 

It  is  hardly  necelTary  to  say  that  reference  is  here 
had  to  their  lyrical  merits  only  ;  for  while  the  devout 
Proteftant  finds  nothing  in  the  Judgment  Hymn  to 
jar  with  his  own  religious  convictions,  he  is  neces¬ 
sarily  offended  in  the  Stabat  Mater  by  a  devotion  he 


4 


PROEM. 


believes  misdirefted  and  idolatrous,  in  the  adoration 
which  it  pays  to  the  Virgin.  He  is  aware,  however, 
that  in  the  formation  of  a  critical  eftimate  of  the  two, 
theological  confiderations  have  no  right  to  enter  ; 
and  certainly  the  moft  zealous  Romanift  will  be  con- 
ftrained  to  admit  that  there  has  been  no  backward¬ 
ness  evinced  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  not  of  his 
faith  to  do  ample  juftice  to  the  lyric  excellence  of 
the  latter.  Some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  place  it 
above  its  great  rival,  but  this  is  not  the  general  judg¬ 
ment,  nor  is  it  ours. 

Beautiful  it  undoubtedly  is,  and  powerful  in  its 
pathos  beyond  almoft  anything  that  has  ever  been 
written  ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  (and  the  same 
indeed  may  be  said  of  the  Dies  Irae  likewise)  that  it 
owes  much  of  its  power  to  make  us  admire  and  weep 
to  the  transcendent  nature  of  its  theme.  Beyond 
controversy,  the  moft  affefting  spectacle  ever  ex¬ 
hibited  to  the  gaze  of  the  universe,  was  that  wit- 
nefled  on  Mount  Calvary.  That  amazing  scene  — 
Jesus  on  the  cross  and  his  mother  ftanding  near  — 
had  been,  of  course,  a  familiar  objecft  of  contempla¬ 
tion  to  all  Chriftian  hearts,  centuries  before  the 


PROEM.  5 

author  wrote.  His  chief  bufiness  therefore  would 
be  not  to  originate  but  reproduce. 

Evidently  the  key-note  of  the  Hymn  is  ftruck  in 
the  two  firft  lines,  of  which  the  language  is  wholly 
borrowed  (bating  the  epithets,  which  are  not  in  the 
manner  of  the  sacred  writers)  from  the  Evangelift 
John,  as  found  in  the  Latin  verfion  :  Stabat  juxta 
crucem  mater  ejus.  This  brief  but  wonderfully  sug- 
geftive  sentence,  furnillies  an  outline  which  the 
pooreft  imagination  would  be  capable  of  filling  up 
in  a  degree.  Every  mother’s  heart,  for  example, 
would  suffice  to  tell  what  an  abyss  of  tears  muft 
have  gone  to  make  up  that  hiatus  in  the  narrative, 
which  leaves  solely  to  inference  what  were  the  feel¬ 
ings  of  her,  who,  without  comprehending  the  mys¬ 
tery,  flood  there  gazing  upward  on  the  agonized  face 
and  writhing  form  of  her  divine  Son,  through  the 
long  hours  of  mortal  anguifh  during  which  he  hung 
upon  the  cross. 

But  however  spontaneous  and  natural,  —  however 
true,  beautiful,  and  even  poetic,  —  and  however  vivid 
the  emotions  of  sorrow,  terror,  and  pity,  arifing  out 
of  these  inftinctive  and  uninflru£led  perceptions. 


6 


PROEM. 


there  is  a  vagueness  as  well  as  vividness,  and  a  re¬ 
sulting  incapacity  to  express  clearly  and  adequately 
what  is  so  genuinely  felt.  The  ability  to  do  this  is 
rare,  and  rarer  ftill  the  poetic  faculty,  whereby  the 
unwritten  melody  of  the  heart  is  accommodated  to 
all  lips  and  sung  in  all  ears.  To  say  that  the  author 
of  the  Stabat  Mater  poflelTed  this  power  and  achieved 
this  triumph  is  to  beftow  upon  him  and  his  work 
the  higheft  praise. 

Rude  though  he  be,  and  a  ftammerer  of  barbarous 
Latin,  he  gives  undeniable  evidence  of  being  a  true 
poet.  He  has  clairvoyance  and  second  fight.  The 
diftant  and  the  paft  are  made  to  him  a  virtual  here 
and  now.  He  is  in  Italy,  but  he  is  also  in  Judea. 
He  lives  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  is  an  eye¬ 
witness  of  the  crucifixion  in  the  beginning  of  the 
firft.  He  has  immediate  vifion.  All  that  is  tran¬ 
spiring  on  Golgotha  is  difl:in£lly  pictured  on  the  retina 
of  his  mind's  eye.  And  by  the  light  which  is  in 
him  he  photographs  what  he  sees  for  the  use  of 
others.  His  ecce  I  is  no  pointless  indication,  but  an 
acSfual  fhowing.  The  wail  he  utters  is  a  veritable 
echo  of  that  which  goes  up  from  the  cross.  Every¬ 
thing  is  true  to  nature  and  to  life. 


PROEM. 


7 


The  Hymn  confifts  of  two  parts.  The  firft  four 
verses  give  a  description  of  the  fituation  and  charac¬ 
ter  of  the  adlors  in  the  drama,  as  pidlorially  powerful 
as  scripturally  juft.  From  this  fruitful  source  have 
come  all  the  Mater  Dolorosas  of  the  Painters.  It 
is  alTumed,  in  accordance  with  the  belief  of  the 
Fathers,  that  the  prophecy  of  Simeon:  A  sword 

(hall  pass  through  thy  own  soul  also,”  had  then  its 
proper  fulfilment.  In  the  remaining  fix  verses,  the 
writer  henceforth  difl'atisfied  with  the  role  of  a  spec¬ 
tator,  seeks  to  identify  himself  with  the  tragic  scene  \ 
prays  that  he  may  be  permitted  to  bear  a  part,  not 
in  the  way  of  sympathy  merely,  but  of  suffering  also, 
and  this  too,  the  same  both  in  kind  and  degree  ;  that, 
enduring  ftripe  for  ftripe,  wound  for  wound,  there 
might  be  to  him  in  every  ftage  of  the  Redeemer’s 
paflion,  groan  answering  to  groan. 

It  is  now  that  the  Franciscan  appears  quite  as 
much  as  the  Chriftian.  Even  when,  as  in  the  8th 
verse,  he  quotes  St.  Paul  (who  speaks  of  bearing 
about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus”),  he 
is  evidently  thinking  of  St.  Francis.  He  would  fain 
have  repeated  the  miracle  of  the  ‘‘  Stigmata”  in  his 


8 


PROEM. 


own  person,  —  have  an  actual  and  vifible  reproduc¬ 
tion  of  the  print  of  the  nails  and  the  spear  in  his  own 
hands  and  feet  and  fide.  As  plagas  ”  in  the  laft 
line  of  the  same  verse  is  used  not  unfrequently  in  the 
sense,  not  so  much  of  wounds  as  the  marks  and  ap¬ 
pearances  left  by  wounds,  it  would  correspond  very 
exactly  \vith  the  ftigmata  named  in  the  legend,  and 
moft  likely,  in  the  author^s  use  of  it,  it  was  intended 
as  a  synonym.  The  poflibility  of  such  a  literalness, 
however  incredible  to  us,  would  not  be  so  to  him. 

This  Hymn  is  full  of  the  implied  merit  of  suffering, 
—  its  meritoriousness  in  itself.  And  this  is  probably 
one  of  the  reasons  why  it  became  such  a  favorite 
with  the  Flagellants,  otherwise  called  Brethren  of 
the  Cross  (Crucifrates)  and  Cross-Bearers  (Cruciferi), 
penitents  who,  in  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and 
fifteenth  centuries  went  about  in  proceffion  day  and 
night,  travelling  everywhere,  naked  to  the  waist, 
with  heads  covered  with  a  white  cap  or  hood,  whence 
they  received  likewise  the  appellation  of  Dealbatores, 
finging  penitential  psalms,  and  whipping  themselves 
until  the  blood  flowed.  By  their  means  it  was  that 
the  knowledge  of  this  Hymn  was  firfl:  carried  to 
almofl  every  country  in  Europe.' 


PROEM. 


9 


The  authorfhip  of  the  Stabat  Mater,  like  that  of 
the  Dies  Irae,  has  been  the  siibje6l  of  dispute.  It 
has  been  varioufly  ascribed  —  to  Pope  Innocent  HI., 
but  backed  by  no  evidence  whatever  ;  to  one  of  the 
Gregories,  (either  the  9th,  loth,  or  iith,  which,  is 
not  ftated,)  on  the  authority  of  the  old  Florentine 
hiftorian  Antoninus,  who  lived  in  the  fifteenth  cen¬ 
tury  j  to  John  XXIL,  on  the  faith  of  the  Genoese 
Chancellor  and  hiftorian,  Georgius  Stella,  who  wrote 
a  few  years  earlier  than  the  laft  named,  dying  in 
1420.  The  text,  as  supplied  by  him,  the  oldeft 
perhaps  extant,  differs  but  little  from  that  of  the 
Miflale  Romanum,  except  that  it  contains  three  more 
verses.  Others  have  referred  its  paternity,  contrary 
to  all  probability,  to  St.  Bernard,  Dismiffing  all  these 
as  conje61:ures  unsupported  by  proof,  it  is  now  gen¬ 
erally  conceded,  that  evidence  both  external  and  in¬ 
ternal  makes  it  wellnigh  certain  that  the  Hymn  was 
the  work  of  a  Franciscan  friar,  a  junior  contemporary 
as  well  as  brother  of  the  author  of  Dies  Irae,  named 
Jacobus  de  Benediftis,  commonly  called  Jacopone, 
that  is,  the  great  Jacob.  This  latter  name,  it  seems, 
was  originally  defigned  as  a  kind  of  nickname  ;  the 


JO 


•  PROEM. 


syllabic  suffix,  one^  meaning  in  Italian  great,  having 
been  added  by  scoffing  contemporaries  by  way  of  de- 
rijion,  on  account  of  the  ftrangeness  of  his  appearance 
and  behavior.  Indeed,  if  we  may  credit  the  ftories 
told  by  Wadding,  the  Irifli  hiftorian  of  the  order, 
himself  one  of  the  number,  his  conduit  at  times 
so  far  exceeded  the  bounds  of  ordinary  fanatical  ex¬ 
travagance,  as  to  be  totally  irreconcilable  with  the 
poffeffion  of  right  reason.  Wadding  expreffly  says 
that  he  was  subjeit  to  fits  of  insanity,  leading  him  at 
one  time  to  enter  the  public  market-place  naked, 
with  a  saddle  on  his  back  and  a  bridle  in  his  mouth, 
going  on  all  fours  ;  and  at  another,  after  anointing 
himself  with  oil,  and  rolling  himself  in  feathers  of 
various  colors,  to  make  his  appearance  suddenly,  in 
this  unseemly  and  hideous  guise,  in  the  midft  of  a 
gay  alTembly  gathered  together  at  the  house  of  his 
brother  on  the  occafion  of  his  daughter’s  marriage,  — 
and  this  too,  in  disregard  of  previous  precautionary 
entreaties  of  friends,  who,  apprehenfive,  it  seems,  at 
the  time  they  invited  him  that  he  might  be  guilty  of 
some  crazy  manifellation  or  other,  had  begged  him 
not  to  do  anything  to  difturb  the  wedding  feftivities, 
but  to  behave  as  an  ordinary  citizen. 


PROEM. 


II 


The  fhocking  circumftances  under  which  he  loll 
a  pious  and  beloved  wife  (the  fall  of  a  scaffold  upon 
which  a  large  number  of  females  were  seated  wit- 
neffing  some  speftacle),  and  the  discovery  after  death 
that  fhe  wore  a  girdle  of  hair  around  her  naked  body 
as  a  means  of  mortification  to  the  flefh,  affecSled  him, 
it  is  said,  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  immediately  re¬ 
solved  to  abandon  the  world,  and  devote  the  remainder 
of  his  days  to  the  severeft  penances.  He  accordingly 
gave  up  all  his  civil  honors,  and  divided  his  eftate 
among  the  poor.  Uniting  himself  to  one  of  the 
exifting  orders,  he  now  went  abroad  as  a  monk, 
clothed  in  rags,  and  praftifing  all  manner  of  ascetic 
severities  beyond  what  was  required  of  him  by  the 
rules  of  his  order. 

It  is  charitable  to  suppose  that  the  fhock  of  his 
domeftic  calamity,  while  it  awakened  his  religious 
senfibilities,  had  the  effeeft  at  the  same  time  of  un¬ 
settling  his  reason,  caufing  partial  insanity.  It  is  in 
no  wise  inconfiftent  with  this  suppofition,  that  he  was 
able  to  write  poems  of  such  excellence  as  the  Stabat 
Mater,  and  that  other  one  ascribed  to  him  by  Wad¬ 
ding:  ‘‘Cur  mundus  militat  sub  vana  gloria,’’  &c.. 


12 


PROEM. 


fince  it  is  well  known  that  mental  unsoundness  on 
some  one  point  is  not  necelTarily  incompatible  with  the 
normal  exercise  of  the  general  powers  of  the  mind. 
This  medical  fail  was  not  so  well  underftood  in  his 
time  as  now  ;  and  when  at  the  end  of  ten  years  he 
delired  to  be  received  by  the  Minorites,  and  they 
hefitated  on  account  of  his  reputed  insanity,  their 
scruples  were  overcome  by  reading  his  work  On 
Contempt  of  the  World,’’  conceiving  that  it  was 
impofEble  that  an  insane  man  could  write  so  excellent 
a  book.  This  would  seem  to  have  been  a  prose  work^ 
written  probably  in  his  own  Italian  vernacular,  and 
therefore  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Hymn  juft 
referred  to,  which  usually  bears  likewise  the  title 
of  De  Contemptu  Mundi.” 

As  a  Minorite  he  was  not  willing  to  become  a 
prieft,  only  a  lay-brother.  Very  severe  againft  him¬ 
self,  he  was,  says  Wadding,  always  full  of  defire  to 
imitate  Christ  and  suffer  for  Him.  In  an  ecftasy  he 
imagined  at  times  that  he  faw  Him  with  his  bodily 
eyes,  and  believed  that  Jesus  often  conversed  with 
him, — -calling  him  deareft  Jacob.  Very  frequently 
he  was  seen  fighing ;  sometimes  weeping,  sometimes 


PROEM. 


13 


finging,  sometimes  embracing  trees,  and  exclaiming, 
‘‘  O  sweet  Jesus !  O  gracious  Jesus  !  O  beloved 
Jesus  !  ”  Once  when  weeping  loudly,  on  being  afked 
the  cause,  he  answered  :  Because  Love  is  not 

loved/’  This  fine  saying  is  not  unworthy  of  the 
author  of  the  Stabat  Mater. 

For  determining  the  genuineness  of  love  he  gives 
these  searching  tefts.  I  cannot  know  pofitively  that 
I  love,  yet  I  have  some  good  marks  of  it.  Among 
others,  it  is  a  fign  of  love  to  God  when  I  alk  the 
Lord  for  something  and  He  does  it  not,  and  I  love 
Him  notwithftanding  more  than  before.  If  He  does 
contrary  to  that  which  I  seek  for  in  my  prayer,  and 
I  love  him  twofold  more  than  before,  it  is  a  fign  of 
right  love.  Of  love  to  my  neighbor  I  have  this  fign  : 
namely,  that  when  he  injures  me  I  love  him  not  less 
than  before.  Did  I  love  him  less,  it  would  prove 
that  I  had  loved  not  him  previoufly  but  myself.”  In 
this  acute  appreciation  of  the  figns  and  symptoms  of 
true  love,  he  gives  evidence  certainly  of  no  want  of 
(kill  in  spiritual  diagnosis  ;  and  were  he  equally  sound 
and  discriminating  in  all  parts  of  Chriftian  doctrine 
and  experience  as  in  this,  it  might  have  been  quite 


PROEM; 


H 

safe  to  truft  him  with  the  cure  of  souls.  It  may  be 
that  his  tefts  are  too  severe  and  superhuman^  and  so 
far  erroneous. 

On  the  subjugation  of  the  senses  he  allegorizes 
in  this  wise  :  A  very  beautiful  virgin  had  five  broth¬ 
ers,  and  all  were  very  poor.  And  the  virgin  had  a 
precious  jewel  of  great  worth.  One  brother  was  a 
guitar-player,  the  second  a  painter,  the  third  a  cook, 
the  fourth  a  spice  dealer,  the  fifth  a  pimp.  Each 
was  willing  to  use  blandifhments  to  get  the  ftone. 
The  firft  was  willing  to  play,  and  so  on.  But  flie 
said :  What  fliall  I  do  when  the  mufic  has  ceased  ? 
In  fhort,  (he  remained  firm,  and  gave  the  jewel  to 
none.  At  length  a  great  king  came,  who  was  willing 
to  raise  her  to  be  his  bride,  and  give  her  eternal  life 
if  ftie  would  present  him  with  the  ftone.  Where¬ 
upon  flie  says  :  How  can  I,  O  my  sovereign,  to  such 
grace  refuse  the  ftone  ;  and  so  fhe  gave  it  him.”  It 
is  plain  that  by  the  brothers  are  meant  the  Five 
Senses  ;  by  the  virgin,  the  Soul  ;  and  by  the  precious 
jewel,  the  Will. 

With  his  severe  principles  and  severer  ascetic  life, 
Jacopone  could  not  fail  to  earneftly  denounce  the 


*  PROEM. 


15 


corruptions  of  his  time  in  general,  and  especially  the 
licentious  manners,  wickedness,  and  debaucheries 
of  the  priefthood,  and  the  deeply  sunken  condition 
of  the  Church.  Boniface  III.,  who,  prior  to  hfs 
elevation  to  the  papal  chair,  had  lived  in  friendly  re¬ 
lations  with  Jacopone,  having  been  deeply  offended 
by  some  fharp  censures  directed  againft  him,  threw 
him  into  prison,  —  at  the  same  time  suspended  over 
him  the  excommunication.  Boniface  one  day  pair¬ 
ing  the  cell  where  Jacopone  was,  afked  scornful¬ 
ly,  ‘‘When  will  you  come  out?”  He  answered, 
“  When  you  come  in.”  Boniface’s  own  imprison¬ 
ment  and  unhappy  end  in  1303  set  him  at  liberty. 

It  is  related  likewise  how  he  baffled  Satanic  craft 
by  superior  craftiness  of  his  own  ;  but  the  details  of 
these  temptations  are  so  childilh  and  ridiculous  that 
it  would  not  be  profitable  to  quote.  Doubtless  it  is 
more  fitting  to  weep  than  to  laugh  over  the  frenzies 
and  follies  of  such  a  man,  — 

“To  see  that  noble  and  moft  sovereign  reason 
Like  sweet  bells  jangled  out  of  tune  and  harfh.” 

His  whole  hiftory  gives  a  melancholy  but  inftruc- 
tive  infight  into  the  prevalent  fanaticism  and  dark- 


i6 


PROEM. 


ness  of  the  period.  His  death  took  place  at  an 
advanced  age  in  1306.  He  died,”  says  Wadding, 
like  the  swan,  finging,  —  having  composed  several 
Hymns  juft  before  his  death.’’ 

The  number  of  Tranflations  made  of  the  Stabat 
Mater  is  scarcely  exceeded  by  that  of  the  Dies  Irae. 
Lisco,  in  his  work  devoted  to  this  Prosa,  gives  or 
makes  mention  of  eighty-three  in  all,  complete  and 
incomplete.  With  the  exception  of  four  done  in 
Dutch,  these  are  all  German.  A  fimilar  collection 
of  Englifh  verfions,  although  comparatively  few  in 
number,  would  not  be  without  intereft.  In  attempting 
to  add  another  to  those  already  exifting,  the  present 
IVanflator  has  been  moved  by  a  defire  to  produce 
one  more  literal,  if  poflible,  than  any  he  has  seen. 
He  is  not,  he  confefies,  friendly  to  free  tranflations. 
Free,  he  has  often  observed,  is  another  name  for 
false.  A  counterfeit  is  put  in  the  place  of  the 
genuine  ;  so  that  inftead  of  a  Stabat  we  get  only 
some  worthless  subftitute.  He  honors  that  pains¬ 
taking  religious  scrupulofity  which  respecSls  the  sa¬ 
credness  of  words  as  well  as  thoughts  ;  and  Ihuns 
all  sacrilegious  license  and  profane  handling,  —  carry- 


PROEM. 


17 


ing  this  reverence  for  the  venerated  text  so  far  as 
to  be  unwilling,  if  it  can  poffibly  be  helped,  to  vary 
one  jot  or  tittle,  either  in  the  way  of  subftitution  or 
alteration. 

He  has  no  patience  with  that  preposterous  conceit, 
sufficiently  common,  which  imagines  itself  competent 
to  improve  on  great  originals  —  whether  for  that  mat¬ 
ter  these  be  in  a  foreign  tongue  or  the  vernacular, 
and  so  applies  to  all  tamperings  with  Englifli  hymns 
as  well.  It  is  much,  he  confiders,  as  if  some  absurd 
novice  of  the  brufli  fliould  undertake  with  a  pre¬ 
sumptuous  hand  to  retouch  a  Raphael  ;  or  an  irrev¬ 
erent  ftone-cutter,  by  the  clumsy  use  of  his  chisel,  to 
improve  a  Venus  de  Medicis,  or  an  Apollo  Belvedere  ; 
or  some  ignorant  devotee  to  make  some  fine  ftatue 
of  the  Virgin  finer  by  puerile  adornments  of  dress, 
trinkets,  and  glass  beads.  If  the  use  of  means 
adapted  to  degrade  a  mafterpiece  to  the  level  of  an 
image  be  accounted  a  fin  and  an  outrage,  it  is  diffi¬ 
cult  to  see  why  the  impertinences  of  the  cheap  em- 
belliftiments  of  every  would-be  tranflator  of  famous 
originals,  who  aspires  to  be  fine  rather  than  faithful, 
fliould  not  be  regarded  as  equally  criminal.  It  may 


PROEM. 


l8 

be,  as  Dryden  says,  almoji  impollible  to  tranflate 
verbally  and  well ;  ”  but  as  the  portrait  of  a  friend  is 
worthless,  however  beautiful,  unless  it  be  a  likeness, 
so  we  hold  a  verlion  muft  fail  of  its  purpose  and  be 
wanting  in  value,  juft  so  far  as  it  is  lacking  in  the 
eflential  point  of  being  a  faithful  representation,  both 
as  to  form  and  spirit,  of  that  to  which  it  relates. 
What  is  here  said,  is  meant,  of  course,  to  apply  only 
to  what  is  deliberately  put  forth  as  a  veritable  trans¬ 
lation  ;  and  not  to  a  production  which  avowedly  uses 
the  text  merely  as  a  theme,  profefling  and  claiming 
to  do  no  more.  In  this  case  one  may  deviate  as  he 
pleases.  It  is  exclulively  his  own  bufiness. 

With  these  views  of  the  duties  of  a  tranflator,  the 
writer  has  aimed,  however  much  he  may  have  fallen 
Ihort,  to  make  his  rendering  a  word  for  word  reflec¬ 
tion  of  the  original,  so  far  at  leaft  as  the  rigorous 
requirements  of  rhyme  and  rhythm  would  allow. 
For  the  sake,  too,  of  a  closer  rhythmic  conformity^ 
he  has  sought  even  to  preserve  the  mufical  quad- 
ruplications  of  the  female  rhymes  found  in  the  second 
and  fixth  verses.  The  text  adopted  is  that  of  the 
Roman  MilTal,  except  in  one  or  two  inftances  where 
another  reading  has  been  preferred. 


PROEM. 


19 


To  make  the  resemblance  between  the  two  Hymns 
ftill  more  complete,  the  Stabat  Mater,  like  the  Dies 
Irae,  has  been  moft  fortunate  in  its  mufical  alliances  ; 
having  been  made  the  theme  of  some  of  the  moft 
celebrated  compofitions  of  the  moft  eminent  com¬ 
posers.  It  was  set  to  mufic  in  the  fixteenth  century 
by  the  famous  papal  chapel  mafter,  Paleftrina  ;  and 
his  compofition  is  ftill  annually  performed  in  the 
Siftine  Chapel  during  Holy  Week.  It  is  sung  like¬ 
wise  in  connediion  with  the  feftival  of  the  Seven 
Sorrows  of  the  Virgin.  The  compofition  of  Pergolefi, 
the  laft  and  moft  celebrated  of  his  works,  made  juft 
before  his  death  and  left  unfinifhed,  has  never,  down 
to  the  present  day,  been  surpafled,  if  equalled,  in 
the  eftimation  of  critics.  It  is  set  for  two  voices, 
with  accompaniments. 

Tieck,  in  his  Phantasus,  Vol.  2d,  p.  438,  (edition 
of  1812,)  thus  speaks  of  the  compofition  of  Pergolefi 
and  the  Hymn  itself :  ‘‘  The  loveliness  of  sorrow  in 
the  depth  of  pain,  the  smiling  in  tears,  the  childlike¬ 
ness,  which  touches  on  the  higheft  heaven,  had  to 
me  never  before  risen  so  bright  in  the  soul.  I  had 
to  turn  away  to  conceal  my  tears,  especially  at  the 


I 


20 


PROEM. 


place  :  ‘Videt  suum  dulcem  natum.’  How  fignificant, 
that  the  Amen,  after  all  is  concluded,  ftill  sounds 
and  plays  in  itself,  and  in  tender  emotion  can  find 
no  end,  as  if  it  were  afraid  to  dry  up  the  tears,  and 
would  ftill  fill  itself  with  sobbings.  The  poetry  itself 
is  touching  and  profoundly  penetrating  ;  surely  the 
poet  sang  those  rhymes  :  ‘  Quae  moerebat,  et  dolebat 
cum  videbat,’  with  a  moved  mind.”  It  is  a  tradition, 
that  the  great  impreflion  which  the  Stabat  Mater  of 
the  young  artift  (Pergolefi)  made  on  its  firft  perform¬ 
ance,  inflamed  another  mufician  with  such  furious 
envy,  that  he  ftruck  down  the  young  man  as  he  was 
coming  out  of  the  church.  This  tradition  has  long 
ago  been  disproved,  but  as  Pergolefi  died  early,  it 
may,  as  one  remarks,  be  permitted  to  the  poet  to 
refer  to  this  ftory,  and  allow  him  to  fall  as  a  vi£lim 
of  his  art  and  inspiration.  He  was  born  1704— ir 
at  Jefi,  and  died  1737  at  Torre  del  Greco,  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  where  he  had  retired  on 
account  of  his  weakened  health.  The  recent  com¬ 
position  of  Roflini  is  popular  and  pleafing,  but  more 
operatic  than  ecclefiaftical,  and  so  is  better  suited 
to  the  concert-room  than  the  church. 


PROEM. 


21 


The  names  of  other  diftinguished  composers  might 
be  cited,  such  as  Aftorga,  Haydn,  Bellini,  and  Neu- 
komm.  Aftorga’s  principal  work  was  his  Stabat 
Mater,  the  MS.  of  which  is  ftill  preserved  at  Oxford, 
he  having  lived  a  year  or  two  in  England.  He  was 
a  native  of  Sicily,  and  died  in  1755.  Haydn’s  was 
published  in  the  year  1781. 

We  give  below  a  condensed  view  of  the  various 
readings  taken  from  Lisco ;  and  as  the  Hymn  is 
usually  divided  into  three-line  Strophes,  making  in 
all  twenty,  the  references  will  be  to  these  :  — 


Strophe  2, 
4» 

5^ 

5. 

6, 

8, 

8, 

8, 

9i 

10, 

11, 


line  2.  Contriftatam — Contriftantem. 

“  2.  Et  tremebat  —  Pia  mater  —  Dum  videbat 

et  tremebat. 

“  2.  Chrifti  matrem  (i  —  Matrem  Chrifti  cum. 

“  3.  In  tanto  —  tanto  in. 

“  I.  Quis  non  poffit  —  Quis  non  poteft — Qu^is 
poffit  non. 

“  I.  Videns — Vidit. 

“  2.  Morientem  —  Moriendo. 

“  3.  Dum  emilit  —  amifit. 

“  I.  Pia  mater — Ej a  mater. 

“  3.  Ut  libi  —  Et  libi  ;  ut  tibi ;  ut  ipli  ;  fibi  ut. 

“  3.  Valide — vivide. 

Jam  dignati  —  Tam  dignati. 


12, 


2. 


22 

PROEM. 

Strophe 

12, 

line  3. 

Poenas  pro  me  —  Poenas  mecum. 

I. 

Fac  me  vere  tecum —  Fac  me  tecum  pie. 

14» 

“  2. 

Te  libenter  —  Et  me  tibi  —  Tibi  me  con¬ 

sociare. 

14. 

“  3- 

In  planctu  —  Cum  planctu. 

15» 

“  2. 

Mihi  jam —  Mihi  tam. 

16, 

“  2. 

Suae  sortem  —  Fac  consortem. 

16, 

“  3- 

Plagas  recolere —  Plagis  te  colere. 

17» 

“  2. 

Cruce  hac  —  Cruce  fac  me  hac  beari  — 

Cruce  fac. 

17. 

“  3- 

Ob  amorem  —  Et  cruore. 

18, 

“  I. 

Inflammatus  et  accensus  —  Flammis  urar 

ne  (ne  urar)  succensus. 

20, 

“  3- 

Gloria — Gratia. 

The  Stabat  Mater  of  Haydn  has  this  for  the 
eighteenth  Strophe :  — 

Flammis  orci  ne  succendar 
Per  te,  virgo,  fac,  defendar. 

In  die  judicii. 

The  Carmelite  Miflal  gives  for  the  nineteenth 
Strophe  the  following  :  — 

Chrifte,  cum  fit  hinc  exire 
Da  per  matrem  me  venire 
Ad  palmam  victoriae. 

The  change  made  in  some  copies  of  the  seven- 


PROEM. 


23 


teenth  Strophe,  of  the  original  Cruce  hac  inebriari,’^ 
into  Cruce  fac  me  hac  beari,”  is  fignificant  of  ^ome 
exception .  having  been  taken  to  the  great  ftrength, 
not  to  say  the  audacity,  of  the  author’s  metaphor,  — 
the  drurikenness  of  love. 


SEQUENTIA  DE  SEPTEM  DOLORIBUS 
BEATiE  VIRGINIS. 

T. 

TAB  AT  Mater  dolorosa 
Juxta  crucem  lachrymosa 
Qiia  pendebat  Filius  ; 

Cujus  animam  gementem, 
Contriftantem  et  dolentem, 

Pertranfivit  gladius. 

II. 

O  quam  triftis  et  afflifta 
Fuit  illa  benedifta 

Mater  Unigeniti ! 

Quae  moerebat  et  dolebat 
Et  tremebat,  cum  videbat 
Nati  poenas  Inclyti. 


HYMN  OF  THE  SORROWS  OF  MARY. 


©TOOD  th’  affli6led  Mother  weeping, 
Near  the  crofs  her  Ration  keeping, 

Whereon  hung  her  Son  and  Lord  ; 
7'hrough  whose  spirit  sympathizing, 
Sorrowing  and  agonizing. 

Also  paffed  the  cruel  sword. 


II. 

O  how  mournful  and  diRrefl'ed 
W as  that  favored  and  moft  blefled 
Mother  of  the  Only  Son  ! 
Trembling,  grieving,  bosom  heaving, 
While  perceiving,  scarce  believing, 
Pains  of  that  Illuftrious  One. 


STABAT  MATER. 


III. 

Quis  eft  homo,  qui  non  fleret, 
Matrem  Chrifti  fi  videret 
In  tanto  supplicio  ? 

Quis  non  polTet  contriftari 
Piam  matrem  contemplari 
Dolentem  cum  P  ilio  ? 


IV. 

Pro  peccatis  suae  gentis 
Vidit  Jesum  in  tormentis 
Et  flagellis  subditum  ; 
Vidit  suum  dulcem  natum 
Morientem,  desolatum. 
Dum  emifit  spiritum. 

V. 

Pia  Mater,  fons  amoris  ! 

Me  sentire  vim  doloris 

Fac,  ut  tecum  lugeam. 
Fac,  ut  ardeat  cor  meum 
In  amando  Chriftum  Deum 
Ut  Sibi  complaceam. 


STABAT  MATER. 


27 


III. 

Who  the  man,  who,  called  a  brother. 
Would  not  weep,  saw  he  Chrift’s  mother 
In  such  deep  diftrefs  and  wild  ? 

Who  could  not  sad  tribute  render 
WitneHing  that  mother  tender 
Agonizing  with  her  Child  ? 

IV. 

For  His  people’s  fins  atoning 
Him  flie  saw  in  torments  groaning, 

Given  to  the  scourger’s  rod  ; 

Saw  her  darling  Offspring,  dying 
Desolate,  forsaken,  crying. 

Yield  His  spirit  up  to  God. 

V. 

Make  me  feel  thy  sorrows’  power, 

That  with  thee  I  tears  may  fliower. 

Tender  Mother,  fount  of  love  ! 

Make  my  heart  with  love  unceafing 
Burn  towards  Chrift  the  Lord,  that  pleafing 
I  may  be  to  Him  above. 


28 


STABAT  MATER. 


VI. 

Sandla  Mater,  iftud  agas, 
Crucifixi  fige  plagas 
Cordi  meo  valide. 

Tui  nati  vulnerati. 

Tam  dignati  pro  me  pati 
Poenas  mecum  divide, 

VII. 

Fac  me  tecum  vere  flere. 
Crucifixo  condolere. 

Donec  ego  vixero. 

Juxta  crucem  tecum  ftare. 

Te  libenter  sociare, 

In  plandlu  defidero. 

VIII. 

Virgo  virginum  praeclara, 

Mihi  tam  non  fis  amara, 

Fac  me  tecum  plangere  j 
Fac  ut  portem  Chrifti  mortem, 
Paffionis  fac  consortem. 

Et  plagas  recolere. 


STABAT  MATER. 


29 


VI. 

Holy  Mother,  this  be  granted, 

That  the  Slain  One’s  wounds  be  planted 
P'irmly  in  my  heart  to  bide. 

Of  Him  wounded,  all  aftounded,  — 

Depths  unbounded  for  me  sounded,  — 
Ail  the  pangs  with  me  divide. 

VII. 

Make  me  weep  with  thee  in  union  ; 

With  the  Crucified,  communion 

In  His  grief  and  suffering  give  ; 

Near  the  crofs  with  tears  unfailing 

I  would  join  thee  in  thy  wailing 
Here  as  long  as  1  fhall  live. 

VIII. 

Virgin  of  all  virgins  deareft  ! 

Be  not  bitter  when  thou  hearefi, 

Make  thou  me  a  mourner  too  ; 

Make  me  bear  about  Chrift’s  dying. 

Share  His  paflion,  fbame  defying, 

All  His  wounds  in  me  renew: 


STABAT  MATER, 


IX. 

Fac  me  plagis  vulnerari, 
Cruce  hac  inebriari 
Ob  amorem  Filii. 
Inflammatus  et  accensus, 
Per  te,  Virgo,  fim  defensus 
In  die  Judicii. 

X. 

Fac  me  cruce  cufiodiri. 
Morte  Chrifti  praemuniri. 
Confoveri  gratia. 
Qiiando  corpus  morietur, 
Fac  ut  animae  donetur 
Paradifi  gloria. 


STABAT  MATER. 


31 


IX. 


Wound  for  wound  be  there  created  , 
With  the  Crofs  intoxicated 

For  thy  Son’s  dear  sake,  I  pray  — 
May  I,  fired  with  pure  afFeilion, 
Virgin,  have  through  thee  protedlion 
In  the  solemn  Judgment  Day. 


X. 


Let  me  by  the  Crofs  be  warded, 

By  the  death  of  Chrift  be  guarded, 
Nouriftied  by  divine  supplies. 
When  the  body  death  hath  riven, 
Grant  that  to  the  soul  be  given 
Glories  bright  of  Paradise. 


REMARKS. 


)0  admiration  of  the  lyric  excellence  of 
the  Stabat  Mater  fhould  be  allowed  to 
blind  the  reader  to  those  objectionable 
features  which  mull  always  suffice,  as 
they  have  hitherto  done,  to  exclude  it  from  every 
hymnarium  of  Proteftant  Chriftendom.  For  not 
only  is  Marv  made  the  obJeCl  of  religious  worlhip, 
but  the  incommunicable  attributes  of  the  Deity  are 
freely  ascribed  to  her.  Her  agency  is  invoked  as  if 
(he  were  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity,  or  had 
powers  coordinate  and  equal. 

Plainly  it  is  the  province  of  the  Holy  Ghoft,  and 
not  of  any  creature,  to  “  work  in  us  to  will  and  to 
do  ;  ”  to  effect  spiritual  changes  ;  to  ‘‘  take  of  the 
things  of  Chrilt  and  fhow  them  unto  us,”  —  and  yet 
these  are  the  very  things  which  (he  herself  is  afked 
to  accomplifh  for  the  suppliant.  Fac,”  alone,  afide 


REMARKS. 


33 


from  potential  equivalents,  is  used  at  leaft  nine  times, 
—  a  form  of  expreflion  manifeftly  inappropriate  un- 
lefs  addrefled  to  one  capable  of  a£ls  causal  and  orig¬ 
inal  and  therefore  divine.  Not  content,  it  seems, 
with  making  her  a  fountain  of  supernatural  influence, 
a  succedaneum  of  the  Holy  Ghoft,  her  efficiency 
is  extended  to  the  performance  likewise  of  the  work 
affigned  to  the  Son,  — 

Per  te,  Virgo,  fim  defensus 
In  die  Judicii,  — 

an  expreflion  of  reliance  on  her  rather  than  on  Him 
to  ward  off  in  that  day  the  demands  of  divine  juftice. 
Mariolalry  here  culminates.  It  could  not  well  be 
carried  farther. 

Confidering  that  the  pofition  here  given  to  the 
mother  of  Chrifl:  receives  not  a  particle  of  counte¬ 
nance  anywhere  in  the  New  Teftament,  one  is  led 
to  wonder  how  those  who  accepted  its  teachings 
could  ever  have  fallen  into  so  awful  an  error.  If 
prayer  of  any  kind  addreffed  to  her  were  laudable  or 
lawful,  how  can  it  be  explained  that  all  the  sacred 
writers  are  so  intensely  reticent  upon  the  point  that 
it  is  not  poffible  to  find  written  so  much  as  a  fingle 


3 


34 


REMARKS. 


syllable  to  authorize  it,  or  a  solitary  exam))le  to  sanc¬ 
tion  it  ?  It  is  remarkable  that  Chrift,  while  here  on 
earth,  did  not  hefitate  to  rebuke  His  mother  on  a 
certain  occafion  when  fhe  manifefted  a  dispofition  to 
intrude  her  maternal  human  relation  into  the  sphere 
of  His  divinity,  saying :  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do 
with  thee  At  another  time,  upon  being  told  that 
His  mother  and  His  brethren  flood  waiting  without. 
He  said,  Who  is  my  mother  ?  and  who  are  my 
brethren  ?  ”  and  ftretching  forth  His  hand  toward 
His  disciples.  He  said,  “  Behold,  my  mother  and  my 
brethren  ?  For  whosoever  fhall  do  the  will  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother 
and  fifter  and  mother.” 

Everybody  muft  feel  that  there  is  a  sublime  propri¬ 
ety  in  this  declarative  poftponement,  once  for  all,  of 
flefhly  relationfhips  to  the  spiritual  ;  and  that  it  would 
be  infinitely  unbecoming  in  Him,  who  is  the  Creator 
of  all  and  the  Judge  of  all,  to  be  a  respe£ler  of  per¬ 
sons,  swayed  as  men  are  swayed  by  the  fond  par¬ 
tialities  of  blood  and  kindred.  Upon  this  principle 
it  is  easy  to  account  for  the  flight  mention  made  of 
Chrifl’s  mother  in  the  Evangelifls,  and  the  entire 


REMARKS. 


3S 


absence  of  any  allufion  to  her  in  the  reft  of  the  New 
Teftament.  Even  the  Apoftle  John,  to  whose  lov¬ 
ing  care  ftie  was  committed,  and  who  took  her  to 
his  own  house,  neither  in  his  Epiftles  nor  in  the 
Apocalypse  names  her  so  much  as  once.  Paul,  the 
moft  voluminous  of  the  New  Teftament  writers,  is 
wholly  filent  in  regard  to  her. 

When  the  people  of  Lyftra  were  making  ready  to 
pay  divine  honors  to  Barnabas  and  Paul,  they,  hear¬ 
ing  of  it,  rent  their  clothes,  and  ran  among  the 
people,  crying  out  and  saying.  Sirs,  why  do  ye  these 
things  ?  ”  If  these  revolted  at  the  idea  of  being 
made  the  objefts  of  religious  worfliip,  can  we  sup¬ 
pose  that  supreme  form  of  it  lefs  fhocking  to  the 
soul  of  Mary,  which  is  neceflarily  implied  in  ad¬ 
drefling  her  as  the  omniscient  and  omnipresent 
hearer  and  answerer  of  prayer  ?  Such  honor  is 
difhonor.  It  is  an  offering  of  robbery.  It  robs 


God. 


STABAT  MATEE. 

(SUNG  ON  EVERY  FRIDAY  DURING  LENT.) 


1«  As  sung  in  the  Churches  at  Home. 

Grkgouian  Chant. 

From  the  “  Catholic  Psalmist^ 


-^1 - 

“p-y  — ■  ■ - ■  ■  ■  ■  ■  = 

1.  Sta-bat  ma-ter  ( 

2.  Cu  -  jus  a  -  ni  -  n 

do  -  lo  -  ro  -  sa, 
lam  ge  -  men-tem. 

Jux  -  ta  cru-cein 
Con  -  tris  -  tan  -  tem 

■  ■  ■  ■-  ■   ■  U 

■  ■ 

— ■ - ■ - i - 1 - ■ - ». — u 

la  -  cry  -  mo  -  sa,  Qua  pea  de  -  bat  fi  -  li  -  us. 

et  do -lea -tern,  Per-traa*si  *  vit  gla  -  di  -  us. 


3.  O  quam  tristis  et  afflicta 
Fuit  illa  benedicta 

Mater  Unigeniti ! 

4.  Quae  moerebat  et  dolebat 
Et  tremebat  cum  videbat 

Nati  poenas  inclyti. 

5.  Quis  est  homo,  qui  non  fleret, 
Matrem  Christi  si  videret 

In  tanto  supplicio  ? 

6.  Quis  non  posset  contristari, 
Piam  matrem  contemplari 

Dolentem  cum  filio. 

7.  Pro  peccatis  suae  gentis 
Vidit  Jesum  in  tormentis 

Et  flagellis  subditum. 

8.  Vidit  suum  dulcem  natum 
Morientem,  desolatum 

Dum  emisit  spiritum. 

9.  Pia  mater,  fons  amoris ! 

Me  sentire  vim  doloris 

Fac,  ut  tecum  lugeam. 

10.  Fac,  ut  ardeat  cor  meum 
In  amando  Christum  Deum, 

Ut  Sibi  complaceam. 

1 1 .  Sancta  mater,  istud  agas 
Crucifixi  fige  plagas 

Cordi  meo  valide. 


12.  Tui  nati  vulnerati 

Tam  dignati  pro  me  pati 
Poenas  mecum  divide. 

13.  Fac  me  tecum  pie  flere 
Crucifixo  condolere 

Donec  ego  vixero. 

14.  Juxta  crucem  tecum  stare 
Et  me  tibi  sociare 

In  planctu  desidero. 

15.  Virgo  virginum  praeclara 
Mihi  tam  non  sis  amara. 

Fac  me  tecum  plangere. 

16.  Fac  ut  portem  Christi  mortem 
Passionis  fac  consortem 

Et  plagas  recolere. 

17.  Fac  me  plagis  vulnerari 
Cruce  hac  inebriari 

Ob  amorem  filii. 

1 8.  Inflammatus  et  accensus 
Per  te,  virgo,  sim  defensus 

In  die  judicii. 

19.  Fac  me  cruce  custodiri 
Morte  Christi  praemuniri 

Confoveri  gratia. 

20.  Quando  corpus  morietur 
Fac  ut  animae  donetur 

Paradisi  gloria. 


STABAT  MATEE. — Ohant  for  Four  Voices. 

IVo.  Novello.  From Evening  ISermce!''' 


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